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Published: January 26th 2008
Ok. So when we left Madrid after like 2 hours of sleep, we took about an hour bus ride to a little town outside of Madrid, called El Escorial. It was crazy beautiful and a tiny little community in the mountains. Here is some info about it:
El Escorial, the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real (also known as the Monasterio de El Escorial or simply El Escorial) is located about 45 km (28 mi) northwest of the Spanish capital, Madrid. El Escorial comprises two architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance: El Real Monasterio de El Escorial itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda, a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five km away. These sites have a dual nature; that is to say, during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the temporal power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation. El Escorial was, at once, a monastery and a Spanish royal palace. Originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now an Augustinian monastery.
gotta love wikipedia....but anyways yeah the main attraction of El Escorial was
the Royal Monastery. It as not only where the royal family lived, but also where about 30 of Spain's royalty are buried there, in crazy cool coffins. I don't have any pictures of the inside of the Monastery because she weren't allowed to take any, but I can tell you it was amazing. I will put up some pics of the town and the outside of the Monastery though.
After we left El Escorial, we travelled back down the hill a little bit to a place called Valle de Los Caidos. For me, it was an amazing site, the outside of the building was amazing, and the view from the plaza was absolutely insane. But for our leaders Rosario, Sara and Christian it was a hated place. Valle de los Caidos is Abadía Benedictina de la Santa Cruz de el Valle de los Caídos (Spanish for "Benedictine Abbey of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen") is a monumental memorial in the municipality of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, erected at Cuelgamuros Valley in the Sierra de Guadarrama, near Madrid, conceived by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco to honour those who fell during the Spanish Civil War and
The Royal Monastery
plaza in front of the monasteryas a national act of atonement. As a surviving artifact of Franco's rule, the monument and its Catholic basilica remain controversial.
For the leaders, this place represented a tribute not to those that had fallen during the reign of Franco, but more for Franco himself. They still hold mass in the Abbey everyday, but many Spaniards would never go there because of the serious negative impact Franco had on their communities and their lives. What I got from Sara was that Franco was the Spanish Hitler...and even I could feel that the place had a very cold, sad feeling to it. It was an amazing site though.
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